Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

NYPD Cop Indicted For Falsely Arresting Man Who Recorded Him

http://gothamist.com/2015/12/22/cop_watch_season_2_the_reckoning.php

Manhattan prosecutors have done something rare indeed: indicted a cop for allegedly falsely arresting someone and lying about it. NYPD Officer Jonathan Munoz, 32, was arraigned this morning on two felony charges of filing false reports, and three misdemeanor charges of official misconduct and false statements.

"Had this officer’s attempts to conceal his alleged misconduct succeeded, an innocent man may still be facing charges for a fabricated crime," Manhattan DA Cy Vance said in a statement.

Munoz's prosecution stems from his role in arresting Jason Disisto, then 21, in the spring of 2014. From our report this April:

Disisto was standing outside of a Puerto Rican restaurant around 1 a.m. when he saw Officer Jonathan Munoz reaching into his friend's pocket. Disisto asked a friend to give him his phone so he could record, but as he lined up the shot, Munoz spotted him and rushed over to grab him. A brief struggle for the phone ensued, with two other officers joining in, and it ended with Disisto in cuffs in the back of a police car.

Before the officers drove away, one threw the cellphone out the window.

[Andrea]

Baltimore County officer placed on administrative duty as second video of Towson arrest surfaces

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/towson/bs-md-co-towson-arrest-folo-20151222-story.html

A Baltimore County police officer was placed on administrative duty Tuesday, three days after a video began circulating of him repeatedly punching a 19-year-old man during an arrest in Towson early Saturday, officials said.

A second video that emerged Tuesday showed two police officers struggling to take down Zachary Blumenstein, with one of the officers grabbing him by the back of the neck and punching him at least five times in the face as he resisted.

Blumenstein was also pepper-sprayed twice before being handcuffed and charged with resisting arrest, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, trespass and failure to obey a police officer, county police have said.

[Andrea]

Dearborn cop fatally shoots unarmed suspect in Detroit

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/12/23/detroit-shooting/77835932/

The off-duty officer — who has reportedly only been on the Dearborn Police Department for a few years — spotted the 34-year-old man suspected of a larceny from a few days ago.

The officer tried to stop the suspect who then ran.

According to the source, the officer and suspect got into a wrestling match before the suspect broke free and ran again. The officer caught up with him and tried to subdue him with pepper spray.

The suspect then reportedly tried to grab the officer’s weapon, at which point he was shot by the officer, according to the source.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad confirmed the suspect was wanted for a misdemeanor warrant out of Redford Township, near Dearborn’s border with Detroit.

There was a brief chase on foot and a struggle leading to the fatal shooting, Haddad said.

The officer was taken to the hospital, Haddad said.

The officer is white and the suspect was black. Police did not release the name of the man nor information about the officer.

Bolding mine

[Andrea]

Sanctions likely in controversial police shooting case
Black teen’s shooting by white officer typified many AJC findings about fatal police shootings in Georgia.

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/sanctions-likely-in-controversial-police-shooting-/nprLz/

Waiters, who was black, was both unarmed and shot in the back. The 19-year-old ran when police arrived to break up a neighborhood fight he’d been watching, and was already lying face down on the ground with one arm handcuffed when Lewis shot him twice in the back. The teen hadn’t committed a crime.

[Andrea]

Chicago Cop Shoots Dead Teen, 56-Year-Old Woman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chicago-cop-fatally-shoots-mentally-ill-teen-56-year-old-woman_567ecb6ae4b014efe0d850f6?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg 00000067

A Chicago officer responding to a domestic disturbance call fatally shot a teenager being treated for a mental illness, along with a 56-year-old woman.

A second victim, who has been identified only as a 56-year-old woman, was a downstairs tenant and bystander. The woman's daughter, Latisha Jones, told the Tribune she found her mother dead with a gunshot wound to her neck.

[Andrea]

Phoenix police shoot and kill man accused of hurling rocks at officers

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/phoenix-police-shoot-and-kill-man-accused-of-hurling-rocks-at-officers/

Arizona police shot and killed a man who they say attacked an officer with a rock on Saturday morning, AZCentral reports.

The man, described only as white and about 30 years old, began hurling rocks at a police officer leaving a Phoenix Police Department precinct station, Sgt. Jonathan Howard told reporters. After the officer called for back-up, the man began throwing rocks at the police precinct.

The man shattered a door with a rock and threw a rock at an officer who was coming out of the building.

[Jesse]

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Officers in Tamir Rice Case
by CORKY SIEMASZKO and DANIELLA SILVA

The fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by two Cleveland cops was a "perfect storm of human error" but not a crime, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor announced Monday...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...l_nbn_20151228

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Chicago Cop Shoots Dead Teen, 56-Year-Old Woman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chicago-cop-fatally-shoots-mentally-ill-teen-56-year-old-woman_567ecb6ae4b014efe0d850f6?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg 00000067

A Chicago officer responding to a domestic disturbance call fatally shot a teenager being treated for a mental illness, along with a 56-year-old woman.

A second victim, who has been identified only as a 56-year-old woman, was a downstairs tenant and bystander. The woman's daughter, Latisha Jones, told the Tribune she found her mother dead with a gunshot wound to her neck.

Andrea, I read an article published yesterday (?) concerning the same incident. I read that Quintonio was an engineering student at an Illinois college, a foster child, that he was experiencing trauma from a past traumatic event in his life before his foster family took him in. Quintonio's foster dad called the police, hoping they could help somehow, but instead of helping, responding officers shot and killed both Quentino and his foster mother. By mistake. How could it be a mistake?

Quintonio had a loving foster family that cared about him, was trying to give him a better chance at life than the sad life he was rescued from by his foster parents.

It's heartbreaking. It makes me angry and sad, too.

http://rollingout.com/2015/12/27/chi...other-mistake/

[Andrea]

The Death Philly Cops Won’t Explain: Is Omar Lopez the Next Freddie Gray?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/30/the-death-philly-cops-won-t-explain-is-omar-lopez-the-next-freddie-gray.html

The city’s transit authority won’t release video showing what turned a peaceful encounter into a deadly one after a cop tased a man who then lost consciousness in his car.

PHILADEPHIA — This Christmas the family of Omar Lopez placed a small toy tree at a gravestone to honor their son who was killed in mysterious circumstances by police this fall.

Lopez, 24, died following an altercation with a transit officer in October. More than eight weeks later, his family is no closer to understanding the circumstances surrounding Lopez’s death. Despite public officials’ recent parades of claims that transparency is a priority, so far city officials are being of no help to the Lopez family in their search for answers.